Co-founder of JJELLYFISH, founder-led enterprise sales
Jen Abel co-founded JJELLYFISH, where she and her team help early stage founders learn how to sell. Before that she was an enterprise sales director at The Muse and General Assembly. She tells founders to vision cast: sell to a gap, don't sell to a problem. A pitch to an executive has to carry the alpha, meaning what that person uncovers and unlocks with a net new tool.
Lenny's Podcast 01:11 01:23 Lenny's Podcast 11:06 Lenny's Podcast 10:49
Sales
The mid-market is not a segment. Below the line the user and buyer are one person; above it, procurement exists.
every single person has a different answer, right? It's either based off of revenue, it's either based off of market cap, it's based off of employee size.
Jen Abel
treats the mid-market as a naming problem rather than a segment, because asking five people to define it returns five different answers built on revenue, market cap or headcount. She collapses it into two games, small business powered by marketing and enterprise carried by sales, and tells founders to go at tier-one logos early with an ACV headed for $75K to $150K.
Y Combinator
defaults early-stage companies to mid-market precisely because it is the softer target, arguing that enterprise sales cycles run too long for a young company to learn anything from. Faster iteration loops beat a bigger logo when you are still finding out what you are selling.
Lenny's Podcast
Lenny's Podcast
Lenny's Podcast
Sales compensation should typically be a 50/50 base-to-commission split
Hiring and incentivizing enterprise sales talent
Keep outreach messages under four sentences to capture attention
Crafting effective sales outreach that is relevant, counterintuitive, concise, and problem-focused
The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel
Enterprise sales cycles can take 6-12 months, with regulated industries extending further
Sales cycle length depends on founder proactivity, organizational complexity, and problem severity
The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel
Enterprise sales should aim for ACVs between $75K and $150K
Pricing strategy for enterprise sales, advising against smaller deals that don't justify the sales effort
The founder is the product in early-stage sales
Founders possess unique insights and experiences that resonate with the market in ways salespeople cannot replicate
The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel
Vulnerability in sales encourages genuine feedback
Being honest about early stage and willingness to learn helps uncover the market's true needs
The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel
